Memoirs of the American Transfer Student
by MaevePhoenix
Summary: Jillian Johnson and her younger sister Bridgette have just moved from Boston to England with their parents. Jill is entering her third year, where she will make new friends, experience life in a new country and maybe even a little bit of romance.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This is my first fanfic. I've never done this before…ever. So please be kind with your reviews. Well here it goes:**

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"Goodbye! Make lots of friends, and don't forget to write. And, Jill, don't forget to give Bridgette her medication!"

"Alright, mom!" I said as I boarded the Hogwarts express for the first time.

"Bridgette Johnson, you be good!" Mom hasn't trusted Bridgette with a wand since she blew the wall out of our Boston loft last year with mine.

"Don't worry mom, I will" Bridgette smiled, but to me her smile looks suspiciously mischievous.

Bridgette and I waved to our mother as the train pulled off.

We found and empty compartment and sat down. Three girls stopped by the compartment.

One girl had sandy, sort of dirty blonde hair. The other two were twins. They were all very pretty. "We're looking for somewhere to sit, everywhere else is full, the exception being the compartment with three first years.", one of the twins said.

"Oh, you can sit here if you want." I said.

Bridgette looked up.

"I'm sorry, I didn't notice you were sitting there." The other twin said, "Never mind then."

"Oh no it's fine," I said, "Bridgette was just leaving"

"What? No, I wasn't." She interjected.

"Oh, come on Bridgette, this could be your chance to meet some people your age" I reminded.

"Whatever," she grumbled as she left the compartment.

_Something tells me that that's going to come back to bite me in the butt later._

"We didn't want to intrude", the blonde chick said.

"She'll be fine," I said. "Sometimes my sister can be quite the drama queen. I'm Jillian by the way. Jillian Johnson."

"I'm Parvati Patil, and this is my twin sister Padma." The other twin smiled.

"And I'm Lavender Brown," said the blonde chick, "You're not from here are you,"

"No," I replied, "My sister and I are from Boston, but we moved out here, because of my mom's job."

"What school did you go to in the States?" one of the twins asked.

"Salem Witches' Institute"

"Do you have any family here?" one of the twins asked

"Yeah, my cousin, Angelina Johnson, do you know her?"

"Yeah she's one of the chasers for the Gryffindor Quidditch team." said Lavender, "Speaking of which, which house do you think you'll be sorted into."

"I don't know, I haven't really thought about it."

"Well, If you get sorted into Gryffindor, you'll be with me and Lavender," said Parvati, "If you get into Ravenclaw, then you'll be with Padma."

"Yeah I think the other two houses are Hufflepuff and Slytherin, right?" I said.

"Slytherin is pretty much our rival, Hufflepuff's not bad either, and they've got Cedric Diggory."

"Who?" I asked.

The train slowed down and stopped.

"Oh, were here," said Padma.

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**Well, I've got chapter one up.**

**Please review and tell me how you felt about it.**

**Don't be shy; I'm always open to constructive criticism.**

**MaevePhoenix**


	2. The Sorting and the First Night Feast

Here's Chapter dos

A/N: Yeah so I just realized that I forgot the Dementors in the train episode. Whoops! Let's just pretend that Jill and her friends ignored it.

Okay so here's Chapter dos.

Hope y'all enjoy.

I was the only thirteen year-old in the group of first years. That was kind of weird. A woman in a tall pointed hat and a long cloak was waiting for us at the top of a staircase.

She introduced herself as Professor McGonagall. She talked about the four houses and basically explained how the sorting ceremony works. She also explained the point system.

"Hey, Bridgette, I whispered, what house do you think you'll get sorted into?"

"I don't know", she said quickly.

Normally Bridgette never shuts up, but I could tell that she was still upset with me about abandoning her on the Hogwarts Express.

Then the doors opened to a large dining hall, with floating everywhere and a ceiling that looked exactly like the night sky. It was magnificent. There were four long tables with students sitting at them and one long table with teachers sitting at it.

As we walked through the hall I felt somewhat awkward being the only third year in that group of first years.

There was an old hat on a stool at the front of the Great Hall. It started to speak in a somewhat poetic tone.

The sorting ceremony began.

Professor McGonagall then told us, "When I place the sorting hat on your head, you will be sorted into your houses"

_This is one freaky freshman initiation, _I thought.

Professor McGonagall called us up one by one.

Abrams, Donald.

Adams, Caleb

Alexander, Miranda

Andrews, Katherine

There was applause after each sorting.

I was already somewhat nervous because I had only met a few people. What if I had gotten sorted into a house where I didn't really know anyone?

I scanned the Great Hall for familiar faces. Then I saw Parvati and Lavender sitting at what I guessed was the Gryffindor table.

"Greengrass, Astoria"

_Oh no! She's already at the letter G. That's three letters away from Johnson. _ My mind was racing.

_Well if I don't get into Gryffindor then that's okay. I could be in Ravenclaw with Padma. What if I'm in Slytherin, then Parvati and Lavender might not want to hang out with me. I guess Hufflepuff isn't bad, but who the hell is Cedric Diggory?_

"Johnson, Bridgette"

_My sister! What house will she be in?_

The sorting hat pondered for a short time. Then it shouted.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Johnson, Jillian"

I took a deep breath and walked up to the stool. As I sat down Professor McGonagall put the sorting hat on my head.

"Another Johnson! Placing you won't be very difficult!"

_And just what did the hat mean when he said that? Am I supposed to be flattered or insulted? Whatever, I'm thinking way too much. This anticipation is killing me._

"GRYFFINDOR!"

I sighed in relief.

There was more applause as I took my seat at the Gryffindor table. I was sitting next to Lavender and Parvati was sitting across from her. My cousin Angelina was sitting next to Parvati. On the other side of Angelina there was a pair of read haired twins.

"Jillie, it's great to see you!" said Angelina.

"Angelina, please don't call me Jillie in public, I'm thirteen, not three," I said, still smiling.

"I know," she said, laughing, "but it just never gets old," she said.

"Yeah well I think that ship has sailed hon," I said.

"Congratulations on getting into Gryffindor, Jill." said Lavender.

"Being new can be tough, so we think you should meet some new people," said Parvati,"This is Seamus,"

Seamus had sandy brown hair.

"Hi," he said as he smiled.

Parvati then gestured towards a black boy. "and this is Dean."

He was tall and black, he was also kind of cute. I smiled and said hi.

"Jill is Angelina's cousin," said Lavender.

"Now that you mention it, I can see the resemblance," said Dean.

"Yeah, everyone says that, but I don't see it," I replied.

He was tall and black, he was also kind of cute. I smiled and said hi.

Looking down the rest of the table I saw a boy with red hair. I assumed he was related to the twins that were talking to my cousin. There was another girl who had really bushy hair, and sitting next to her was a face that I immediately recognized.

"Parvati, you didn't tell me that Harry Potter was in Gryffindor house."

"I thought you knew, I really didn't feel the need to mention it."

I looked across my table and saw my sister talking to another first year with long dark hair. And she was also talking to a boy with a camera. She seemed like she was having a good time and that made me feel better about making her leave the compartment on the train.

Parvati and Lavender made me feel a lot less nervous about starting at a new school. The feast was also very satisfying.

After the feast I went with Parvati and Lavender up to Gryffindor tower. The Gryffindor common room was nice and cozy. It was full of students so Lavender, Parvati and I decided to go up to our dorm to chill.

There were four beds in the dorm.

"Who else is rooming with us?" I asked.

"Hermione Ganger, she's nice, I guess, but she can also be somewhat of a know-it-all," Lavender explained, "but then again her smarts are what gets Gryffindor all of its house points."

"So what do you think of Hogwarts so far?"asked Parvati.

"It's great. I can't believe you get to have feasts like that every night," I said, "In the states they're constantly worrying about childhood obesity,"

"Well what do you think about the people?" asked Lavender.

"Everyone seems really nice. It's a nice change, because going to an all girls' school isn't all that great. To be honest it's kind of boring." I replied.

"So…", started Parvati.

There was a short pause.

"So do you like Dean?" Lavender said bluntly.

"What?" I was surprised by that question.

"Lavender!" said Parvati.

"Well do you?" inquired Lavender.

"Well he was kind of cute, I guess" I said.

"Ha! I knew it." Said Lavender.

"We could tell by the way you were looking at him," said Parvati.

" It was written all over your face," Lavender pointed out.

"Okay so I think he's cute, it's really not that big of a deal…well he did seem nice, and I think I might start to like him later on. Please don't tell him." I pleaded.

"Don't worry about it. Dean's a great guy, and what kind of friends would be if we told him about it."said Parvati.

"I'm getting kind of tired, and classes start pretty early tomorrow." said Lavender, "Goodnight, you two!"

So what did you think about chapter two, feel free to review.


	3. Prophecies and Orange Potion

**A/N: I want to apologize for the sloppiness of chapter two**

**I'll try no to let it happen again.**

**Okay so here's chapter 3**

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So today is the first day of classes. I'm not really looking forward to the work load for the rest of the term but whatever.

So today at breakfast I was mostly talking about the Dementors on school grounds with Parvati and Lavender. Simply put, having them all over school pretty much sucks.

It's like they suck the happiness out of life. Then again, I suppose it's for a good reason, because the last thing any school needs is a notorious mass murderer, who is on the loose enter it.

Sometimes it must be a drag to be Harry Potter. His parents were killed when he was younger, and now an escaped convict might be trying to get him. Speaking of whom, I saw this blonde ferret-looking kid teasing him. Harry seems like a nice guy (from what I've seen) but then again I don't really know him at all. I noticed that Bridgette was extremely excited about her classes. She'll actually be able to use a wand in a non-destructive way.

Then I had to run upstairs to feed my bat, Juniper. It really seems like he was having a bit of a hard time adjusting to the cold weather at Hogwarts. He's a fruit bat so I just got some fruit from the breakfast table. I'm glad he's a frugivore, because frankly I would not want to wake up one night and find him nibbling on my toes for a midnight snack.

So my first class was Divination. Professor Trelawney seemed a bit strange. Even though she had enormous glasses, this chick seemed to have a little bit of trouble seeing. We were reading tea leaves.

Padma and I partnered up in class and I read her tea leaves. In her cup I saw a spider, which according to our textbook, means that she will get a small reward or win. I also saw an oak, which means that she will live a long healthy life. Well that's always good.

Then Padma read my tea leaves. She told me that she saw a broom, which could mean a new home or the beginning of a new era in my life. This obviously refers to the move my family just made. Padma also saw a foot, which could also mean some sort of movement. She also saw a fan, which means flirtation, and a harp, which means romance.

Padma then whispered to her sister, "Parvati, Jill's got a fan and a harp in her cup,"

Parvati and Lavender flipped through the pages of their textbooks to find an interpretation. They looked up at me and grinned. I knew exactly what they were thinking. I'm starting to think it was a bad idea to mention that I though Dean was cute.

Everything was going pretty smoothly, until Professor Trelawney freaked out, at the sight of Harry Potter's cup. She predicted his imminent death. When it comes to divination, Professor Trelawney also predicted that Lavender's pet rabbit was going to die. I told Lavender not to believe it but I'm pretty sure she was still worried about it. I'm really not sure if I can really believe in that stuff yet. Maybe when some of the predictions come true, I'll have a bit more faith; but for right now, I'm still a bit skeptical, besides, just because my tea leaves said I should expect romance does not mean that I'm just going to run off and marry Dean.

The next few classes went by pretty well. Our Transfiguration teacher was Professor McGonagall. Everyone in that class was still a bit unnerved by Professor Trelawney's prediction. I'm not going to lie; even I was a little bit worried. Professor McGonagall assured us that Trelawney's prediction was more than likely untrue, and that she predicts the death of one of her students every year.

One of the most exciting classes on my schedule is Care of Magical Creatures. Professor Hagrid had apparently been gamekeeper at Hogwarts, and this was his first year teaching the class. He was a very large man; larger than normal, so I'm assuming that someone hit him with an engorgement charm.

Our textbooks for that class were alive and absolutely vicious. It had about six eyes and snarling teeth. I didn't want to go near it, after I saw what one of the books had done to the shopkeeper's thumb at Flourish and Blotts. My nosy sister, on the other hand, just had to go into my room, and look through my stuff and just had to drop the book on the floor when I wasn't there. The book ended up attacking her feet, destroying her new sneakers.

So, anyway, in Care of Magical Creatures class, Professor Hagrid showed us that we could open the book by petting it along the spine. _Oh! Duh. That makes a lot more sense. Why didn't I think of that? _I thought.

"C'mon, now, get a move on! Got a real treat for yeh today! Great lesson comin' up! Everyone here? Right, follow me!" he said.

We were at the edge of the forbidden forest, and I though it was kind of cool that this was the one class that we could have outside. Then he brought out a large menacing, creature. It was almost like a horse; however, it had wings, the head of an eagle, and talons where its front hooves should be.

"Buckbeak, here is a hippogriff," He explained. Hagrid warned us not to blink, because that might agitate him. Next, he asked if anyone would like to pet the hippogriff.

"Come on, don' be shy," said Hagrid, "Harry, what about you,"

That kinda made me wonder, if Harry was put on the spot like that all the time. First Harry was told to bow very low, and then Buckbeak bowed back. Harry was then able to pet him.

"I don' believe it. I think Buckbeak will let you ride 'im now," said Hagrid.

"Hagrid I don't really think that's such a good idea," Harry replied.

But before he knew it Buckbeak had taken off. Riding Hippogriff looked like fun, but it also looked dangerous, either way it must be one hell of an adrenaline rush. Everyone was watching in awe as Harry and Buckbeak soared across the sky. That is, everyone except a certain group of Slytherins. I immediately recognized one of them as that ferret boy from breakfast.

As Harry and Buckbeak landed, ferret boy decided that he wanted to be an attention whore.

"You're not dangerous at all, are you? You great ugly brute."

_Did you not see the menacing talons?_ I thought.

"Malfoy, no!" shouted Hagrid.

Suddenly, Buckbeak scratched the blonde kid across his arm. It was a pretty deep gash but I wasn't seriously injured.

That Malfoy kid screams like a girl.

"Draco! Are you alright?" screamed this pug faced girl. _What the hell do you think?_

"Hagrid he has to go to the hospital wing!" shouted Hermione.

Later that day at lunch, Lavender, Parvati, and I talked about how eventful our day had been so far.

"Is Harry always put on the spot like that?" I asked.

"Yes. All the time and it's been like that since our first year." said Parvati.

"It was totally awesome how he got to ride the Hippogriff, though." I said.

"Yeah I know, it was, wasn't it," Lavender said, "I also happened to notice that Dean couldn't take his eyes off of you,"

"Oh, please! I just met him yesterday. You probably wouldn't be saying that if Padma hadn't told you about my tea leaves."

"Don't deny it Jill, you two will end up together, and Lavender, Padma, and I will see that it happens." Said Parvati, "Maybe we could get the four of us, Dean and Seamus should do something this weekend on Hogsmeade,"

I noticed Draco Malfoy enter the Great Hall in a sling. He was playing up his injury to the best of his abilities, and when asked by other Slytherins about his arm, he made sure to mention the agonizing pain that was his brush with death. What a drama queen!

After lunch we had potions with Professor Snape. From what I could tell, basically everyone in Gryffindor hated him. He had greasy black hair and seemed pretty emo.

Parvati and Lavender sat together and insisted that I sit next to Dean. I was never very good at potions, but Snape made me feel worse about it. Dean's potion seemed to be turning out okay, but mine definitely was not. The potion that we were brewing was supposed to be blue, but somehow mine turned out to be orange.

"Wow, Johnson, if I didn't know any better I would say that you are quite inept when it comes to potions. You definitely have some catching up to do. You're concoction is almost as bad as Longbottom's. Five points from Gryffindor. And to make up for how far behind you seem to be from the rest of the class I'm going to assign a paper on the properties of the shrinking solution. I want it to be three feet long and on my desk tomorrow before class starts."

I couldn't believe he said that. What did I ever do to him? I tried to maintain my poker face but my eyes started to glisten with tears. Snape obviously noticed and a look of satisfaction appeared on his face. I was hoping Dean didn't notice that I was starting to cry.

I only lost more respect for Professor Snape when he just sat back and allowed Draco Malfoy to order Harry and his red haired friend to do his potions assignment.

Also, Neville Longbottom had a perfectly good shrinking solution which worked very well. But Snape decided to be a dick and take points from Gryffindor because Hermione Granger helped him.

Later we had Defense Against the Dark Arts with Professor Lupin. Lavender told me that they had never had the same teacher in that class for more than a year.

Professor Lupin had a boggart locked in a closet. He asked Neville Longbottom to tell the class what he was most afraid of. We were somewhat surprised to hear that he was scared of Professor Snape. Then Professor Lupin whispered something in Neville's ear. He then told Neville to point his wand at the boggart and shout _ridikulus_.

When Lupin opened the closet, Professor Snape walked out. Neville shouted, "Ridikulus!" Suddenly the boggart was wearing a dress and carrying a red handbag. For Parvati, the boggart turned into a mummy, for Dean it turned into a severed hand.

Harry was up next. I was almost sure the boggart would turn into You-Know-Who. It turned into a dementor, but just as that happened Lupin stepped in front of Harry. The boggart turned into what I could swear was the moon. Lupin shouted "Ridikulus!" It then turned into a deflating balloon and back into the closet. Before we knew it class was over and I was walking back to Gryffindor tower.

On my way up there, I heard someone call my name.

"Jill!"

I turned around and saw Dean Thomas.

"Hi, Dean"

"I saw how Snape put you on the spot like that today in Potions," he said, "It really wasn't fair to give you that extra assignment to do in one night. If you want, we can get together and I can help you with it,"

"Yeah, I'd like that," I said, "What time would be good for you?"

"I'm fine with whatever you decide," he said.

"I can't concentrate on an empty stomach, so how about at seven, right after dinner" I said.

"Great, so I'll see you then," he said.

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**So how did you like chapter three?**

**Yeah I know it was kind of long, and I promise you will see more of Dean later on.**

**You also just might see some other pairings as well.**


	4. Rice Pudding and Library Conversations

**After my long hiatus and insane writers block, here's chapter 4**

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After class I went back to Gryffindor tower to put some of my books down and get started on my homework

After class I went back to Gryffindor tower to put some of my books down and get started on my homework. I was definitely not looking forward to having to write that paper for potions. God, Professor Snape is evil, I swear. I usually make a good first impression, but he clearly has issues.

When I got up to the common room, Parvati and Lavender were already there, talking to Seamus.

"Hey, Jill," said Lavender, "We all saw what Professor Snape did today in class"

"That extra homework was completely unfair," said Parvati.

"Well, I don't know how long it's going to take me tonight," I said, "but it's all good because Dean said he could help me with it,"

Parvati gave me a knowing/smug look.

I rolled my eyes and chuckled a little bit, "He's just helping me study, and that's all,"

"Oh, of course, Jill, that's always how it starts," she replied.

"Why does it matter, I just met him," I said.

"You two have great chemistry," Parvati said, "I can see these things. I mean, just look at Lavender and Seamus,"

Lavender and Seamus did look like they were flirting a little bit.

"Well, for now, I have to focus on passing potions," I said.

I went up to the dorm to get some homework done. _Great, now I have all of my homework finished, except for Potions._

I went down to the Great Hall for dinner. I saw Bridgette talking to those red haired twins to whom Angelina is always talking. I saw Angelina sitting with them and went to join them.

"Hey, Jillie, how was your first day?" Angelina asked.

"What did I tell you about calling me Jillie? I'm not five anymore." I reminded.

"Excuse me Lady Jillian, were the classes to you liking today?" asked Angelina.

"That's better," I said, "They were pretty good, except for potions. The teacher totally put me on the spot in front of everybody and to top it off, he gave me extra homework"

"Yeah, but don't let that guy get you down Jill," said Bridgette. She was levitating a drumstick, while her dark haired friend was watching in awe. Her other friend was a small boy with a camera who took a photo of the drumstick. "I learned this spell in Charms today with Professor Flitwick"

"Jill, these are my friends Fred and George, they're on the house Quidditch team with me,"

"Hey, what's up?" I said to the twins.

"So this is the ickle Jilliekins we've been hearing so much about." One of them said.

Angelina laughed.

I was so flustered. I need to remember to come up with and embarrassing pet name for her.

"Hey, Romilda, Colin, check this out." Bridgett said. "_Wingardium Leviosa"_

Suddenly, a bowl full of rice pudding lifted off of the table and floated towards the Slytherin table. There was a girl with dark brown hair, who looked like she was a first year too. Something about her seemed a little pompous, but I don't like to judge people.

The pudding was going right towards her, but no one seemed to notice, as Peeves the Poltergeist was sneezing on people's plates farther down the Slytherin table. The pudding stopped right over the girl's head, and the bowl turned over.

She screamed, "JOHNSON!! You filthy, disgusting freak!" At that moment all eyes in the Great Hall were on her. I turned and looked at Bridgette who, by now had her wand concealed and innocent look on her face.

Pudding chick took the bowl off of her head and I noticed that the parts of her face that were not covered with pudding were beet red. Colin was taking as many pictures of the girl as he could. One of the ferret faced kid's friends (the really stupid fat one, to be precise) walked over to her. He swiped his finger across her cheek and licked the pudding off of his finger.

_God, what an idiot._ I thought.

"Don't touch me!" Pudding chick said. She ran out of the Great Hall, with two other girls (who were probably the only ones in the Great Hall not laughing) following.

After she left, I gave Bridgette my knowing look. "What?" said Bridgette. She kept that innocent look on her face, and knowing Bridgette, she wouldn't publicly embarrass someone like that unless they had really wronged her.

After I had finished eating I grabbed my booked and headed to the Library.

Dean was already there. "Are you ready to get started?" he said.

"Sure" I said.

I've always noticed that unpleasant tasks always go by faster, when you do them with someone else. Before we even knew it, the paper was finished.

"So why did you move to London?" Dean asked.

"My Dad always worked in international magical law, and he got a job offer from the Ministry of Magic. After we moved here, my mom got a job working for the Daily Prophet." I replied.

"Do you miss you're friends in America?"

"Sometimes I do, but I still try to keep in touch, but what about you? Do you come from an all magic family?"

"No, my mum's a muggle, and so's my step dad," he said.

"But what about you're real dad?" I asked.

_Crap! Why don't I ever think before I talk? That probably sounded so insensitive._

He shrugged "I don't know much about him. My mom never talks about him. She just said that he walked out when I was a toddler."

"Dean, I'm really sorry. I shouldn't have asked. I—"

"Don't worry about it."

There was an awkward pause.

"Do you like it here at Hogwarts?"

"Yeah, it's a nice change from going to an all girls' school. Girls are cool, but sometimes they can get a bit catty," I said.

"I can't wait until October. That's when the third years get to spend their weekends at Hogsmeade Village."

"What's it like there?"

"Dunno, I've never been, but from what Seamus tells me it's pretty cool."

Suddenly, Lavender came running into the library. "Jill, Dean, you won't believe what happened! You have to come and see this!"

" SHHHH! Don't you know you're in a Library" a skinny irritable woman said.

"Sorry, Madam Pince" said Lavender.

"What happened?" Dean asked.

"It's the Fat Lady, she's gone."

Well there you have it, this is the hardest chapter so far but I finally finished it.

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**Feel free to review, and I'm always open to constructive criticism (constructive being the operative word).**

**Hope y'all enjoyed.**


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